Palak Paneer

20May

Ever been to an Indian restaurant and ordered this dish of smooth, vibrant green, medium spicy spinach gravy with soft paneer cubes? Well, here is a ‘fast to cook and good to eat’ recipe for this popular restaurant style dish from Punjab, North India.

Remember, cooking is fun when it doesn’t take time to cook it and the results are amazing! When made at home, you can make it with the best freshest ingredients! Just follow this recipe to the tee and you will not go wrong!

Ingredients:

For Paste:

Onions – 1 cup (2 medium), sliced

Tomatoes – 1 small can (or 1 cup fresh)

Cashew nuts – ¼ cup (soaked for half an hour)

Green chilies – to taste

Ginger – ¼ inch piece

Garlic – 5-6 cloves

Spinach – 6 cups (1 medium Bunch)

Salt to taste

As is

Paneer – 7 oz (200 grams), 1/2 inch cubed

For Tempering (baghaar)

Ghee or butter – 3 teaspoons

Black salt – ¼ teaspoon

Dried fenugreek leaves (Kasoori Methi) – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala (or Kitchen King Masala) – 1 teaspoon

Heavy whipping cream (Malai) – 2 tablespoons

Method:

Put all ingredients for paste in a microwaveable bowl and cook on high for 10 minutes (time suitable for 1000watt microwave). Remove and cool completely. Then blend.

Allow the blended mixture to simmer in a slow cooker along with paneer pieces on high for 2 hours.

In a thick bottom pan, heat the ghee and add the black salt, garam masala and kasuri methi.

Add the “baghaar” to the cooking spinach mix and cook for another hour and a half on low.